December 31, 2018

Happy Bacon, Happy New Year!

I happily inspect my tasty Million Dollar Bacon, fresh out of the oven.

With 2018 quickly drawing to a close, I post this, my final blog of the year, in dedication  to you, my faithful readers. It is with appreciation for your encouragement and kind words throughout 2018, that I wish you and yours a terrific 2019!  :o)

New Year’s Eve

How will you spend your New Year’s Eve?  Mine will be of the enjoyably quiet variety.  My hubby and I will view the 1942 Humphrey Bogart classic, Casablanca
(it’s a tradition with us), sometime during the course of the evening, and in-between football games. :o)

Casablanca, the romantic war drama

We’ll be toasting in the new year at midnight with a glass of Martinelli’s sparkling
(non-alcoholic) apple cider (another tradition, since our kiddies were young).

Our Martinelli’s sparkling cider is chilling.

In addition to watching Casablanca, I often watch the 1960’s New Year’s Eve film, Ocean’s 11 (the original). Rat Pack-filled/Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and the rest, this is an enjoyable comedy/drama that does not take itself too seriously.

The tradition of watching this film every New Year’s Eve dates back to my young days in Iowa.  My family often joined another family for New Year’s Eve festivities, and it seems that Ocean’s 11 was always on the TV when the bell tolled midnight for the new year. 

Four movie recommendations for New Year’s Eve viewing.

Two more of my New Year’s Eve film recommendations are Sandra Bullock’s romantic comedy/drama, While You Were Sleeping (1995), and the comedy, Last Holiday (2006), with Queen Latifah, that is, if you have not already seen them during the Christmas holidays. :o)

Christmas Gifts

Christmas 2018 is now a sweet memory of time with family and friends.  One of my many wonderful Christmas gifts was a cookbook from my son, First Watch.  This book includes the breakfast culinary delights of the restaurant of the same name.

One of my wonderful Christmas gifts 

One of my favorite items on First Watch’s menu is their Million Dollar Bacon. With this recipe in my cookbook, I decided to give it a try today!

My breakfast order at First Watch a few weeks ago.
(I sub out their regular bacon for the yummy Million Dollar variety.)

Million Dollar Bacon

As I happily began my quest for delicious Million Dollar Bacon , I soon found that I had only four pieces of bacon in my refrigerator.  Oh well, I would have to do a half batch.

Ingredients for Million Dollar Bacon

The first step is to prepare a pan.

Whisk all of the ingredients, but the bacon, together for the glaze.
Then, drag bacon slices through the whisked ingredients.

Bake to yummy goodness

Recipe

Million Dollar Bacon
(This is a half batch)

Ingredients for glaze

1/2 cup brown sugar (I used light brown sugar)

1/2 Tablespoon (1+1/2 teaspoons) coarse ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
( I used a scant 1/2 teaspoon, and may even use a little less next time)

1/4 cup real maple syrup

1/4 cup water (I use filtered)

Bacon

4 slices (I used the thicker, no nitrate variety)
(I had enough glaze to do 1-2 more pieces of bacon.)

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Line baking sheet with parchment.  Place baking rack (this is what I used), or roasting rack on top.

Whisk together brown sugar, black pepper, cayenne pepper, maple syrup, and water in large bowl.

Drag bacon slices through mixture and place on prepared pan rack.
(I poured the additional glaze mix over the bacon.  No need to waste maple syrup!  :o))

Bake for 15 minutes. Rotate pan, and cook for another 5 minutes, or until done to desired crispness.
(After rotating, it took my bacon about another 15 minutes.)
Watch closely, being careful not to over-cook.

Enjoy!

Annette’s note-I would make this again!  Please, see my notes above (in parentheses) on things that I would change.

Happy New Year, and thank you for reading!

Annette

I’m Annette Stuff

I typically post my blog once per month.
Look for my next blog post on, or around,
Thursday, January 24, 2019

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Christmas decor is packed away for another year, and
January “pretties”take their place.